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And yet on exactly the same day that ASDA was confirming just how bad its sales position is, Amazon announced that it would open in early 2017 another fulfilment centre – its thirteenth – in the UK. Part—but only part—of the reason why Amazon needs more capacity is due to the initial success of its Amazon Fresh food delivery business which launched in the UK in July 2016.

Rumors have ignited that Amazon may launch hundreds of brick-and-mortar bookstores. The online retailer’s first shop, located at Seattle’s University Village shopping center, opened its doors in late 2015.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Sandeep Mathrani, chief executive of General Growth Properties, publicly stated that Amazon has plans to open 300 to 400 bookstores. At this point in time, no announcement has been made by Amazon executives.

Here’s more from The New York Times: “Even if Amazon is not planning to go nationwide with its stores anytime soon, any expansion of its brick-and-mortar presence is likely to send shivers down the spines of other booksellers. Amazon’s success as an online retailer of physical and electronic books has already devastated chains like Borders and seriously wounded Barnes & Noble. Independent booksellers, though, are seeing sales growth in many parts of the country, showing how reluctant some book fans have been to give up browsing store shelves.” (via BuzzFeed)

Per Deadline, Amazon Studios has ordered a pilot to relaunch the cult classic property The Tick with a new take on Ben Edlund’s superhero spoof. Edlund will write and executive produce on the project and two cast members have already signed on-board: Griffin Newman will play Arthur, The Tick’s moth-garbed sidekick and Valorie Curry will […]

1 Comments on THE TICK is returning to television thanks to Amazon, last added: 3/13/2016

Amazon has released a new software to make collaborative screenwriting easier.

Amazon Storywriter is a free cloud-based screenwriting software with the templates to create standard format TV and movie screenplays. Here is more from the press release:

Screenwriters can write online while their scripts are saved as they work, knowing all their material is being stored securely in the cloud. Additionally, they can write offline with a free installable Chrome app for Mac and PC.

In addition, Amazon revealed that it will now accept submissions for dramas through the amazonstudios.com site.

Black Friday has been historically the busiest shopping day of the year here in the U.S. However, this one-day celebration has pretty much expanded into a full-blown extended sale that often starts before Thanksgiving and goes until Cyber Monday. Let’s get ready to save! …Or spend a lot of money. Either one. Black Friday Tips ... Read more

The law has long struggled to adapt to new forms of employment – who should be responsible for the protection of workers’ rights, from minimum wage and working time to discrimination law, in today’s fragmented economy? These fundamental questions are now returning to public discussion as a result of the meteoric rise of so-called "crowd-work".

The film is a love story about a bus driver in Paterson, NJ. It is called called Paterson and stars Adam Driver and Golshifteh Farahani. The production crew recently wrapped shooting and the film hits theaters later this year.

“Paterson is a funny, philosophical and moving story that only Jim can tell. We look forward to working closely with him and supporting his vision in bringing the film to life,” stated Ted Hope, Head of Motion Picture Production at Amazon Studios. “Adam Driver is one of this generation’s most gifted actors. It’ll be exciting to see what he and Jim unearth as they explore the intimate and richly textured world of Paterson.”

The big seller for my affiliate link to Amazon this year was multiple gingerbread houses and more chocolate than I though possible to consume (also bought with the houses. It was something like $300 worth of chocolate.

I actually sell a decent amount of games through my link, very few comics.

It’s Halloween, so while you’re dressed up in your awesome cosplay, why not get new anime and manga to inspire your next costume? Amazon Amazon offers free shipping with Prime or on $35+. Dragon Ball Z Season 9 [Blu-ray] – $19.99 Fullmetal Alchemist: Complete Collection [Blu-ray] – $32.27 Is It Wrong to Try to Pick ... Read more

Amazon Publishing has just opened a call for submissions for the Little A Poetry Contest, a competition for emerging poets. The winner will take home a $2,000 advance with Little A, Amazon Publishing’s literary imprint.

Writers can submit their work through December 20, 2015. To be eligible, poets must have no more than one published work of poetry available. Contestants can submit their full-length collections to LittleAPoetry@amazon.com for consideration. Poets Cornelius Eady, Jericho Brown and Kimiko Hahn will judge the contest. Here is more from the press release:

The judges will select a winner based on the quality of writing, strength and originality of content, and creativity of language. The winner will be announced in the spring of 2016 and Little A expects to publish the winner’s manuscript in paperback and eBook in the spring of 2017.

Amazon has opened a brick-and-mortar bookstore in Seattle called Amazon Books. The shop, located within the University Village shopping center, will be stocked with 5,000 to 6,000 books at a time and Kindle devices.

According to Mashable, the team behind this venture intends to dedicate one section to books that have received an average of 4.8 stars (or more) on the Amazon website. At this point in time, no plans have been announced for additional locations.

Here’s more from The Seattle Times: “Amazon is betting that the troves of data it generates from shopping patterns on its website will give it advantages in its retail location that other bookstores can’t match. It will use data to pick titles that will most appeal to Seattle shoppers. And that could also solve the business problem that has long plagued other bookstores: unsold books that gather dust on shelves and get sent back to publishers. More than most book retailers, Amazon has deep insight into customer buying habits and can stock its store with titles most likely to move.” (via The New York Times)

The Amazon editors have revealed their picks for Best Books of 2015. According to the press release, 22 debut authors were selected for the Top 100 Books of the Year list. Follow this link to see the full list of 100 titles.

We’ve listed the top 10 books below. In addition to a general list, the Amazon team has also put together “top 20 lists in over two-dozen categories.” Did any of your favorites make the cut?

Convicted murderer Paul Bernardo self-published an e-book on Amazon, and the book is no longer available after people found out and complained about it.

Entitled, A MAD World Order, the work was about: “The top echelons of the Russian government lament for the glory days of their superpower status.” After news broke that the Bernardo had published the work, people took to Amazon to write one-star reviews and demand that the book be taken down. Amazon has not commented on whether or not it removed the books due to these complaints.

The book is still live in Google search cached pages, but when you click through the link is now dead.

I did all the drawings, and created the book using Amazon's CreateSpace self-publishing tool.

This has been a LOT of work, but also a lot of fun. But a lot of work.

Its a "Sampler" because the 20 drawings are of a little bit of everything: plaid, paisley, a quilt, some food, Fair Isle patterns, a sweater, and other things. (I'd like to do a series, with each book having a separate theme. Eventually.)

I've been drawing knitting in different ways for a while now, and have made cards, fabric, all kinds of buyable things on Zazzle, original drawings, etc. Some were done realistically with colored pencils, some were more stylized and digital. I had a vague idea about making a cohesive sort of collection or licensable 'program' out of "drawings of knitting", but left that simmering on a back burner while I went off to work on other things.

Then, recently, when the whole 'adult coloring book' thing became so huge and that Secret Garden lady sold millions of copies of hers, I thought well hey! As an illustrator, I should do one too, and OMG I KNOW I'LL DO ONE OF DRAWINGS OF KNITTING NO ONE'S DONE THAT!

So long story short, I did it. My first challenge was to figure out how to interpret knitting as a drawing that could be colored. I had a plain page of knitting, but then what? Should I do it like a 'color by number'? But putting little tiny numbers in each stitch would have looked weird. Then I came up with the idea of doing a pattern with greys, which could be colored over. Like so:

So that worked OK. But then my brain took off and I started to get some ideas about drawing other things to look like they were made of knitting. My head exploded a little when I realized all the possibilities. And then I started to work on some of them.

I thought I'd share a little about how I did these drawings, in case you're interested.

It all starts with some doodles with a pencil and paper.

These are the basic building blocks of drawing knit and purl stitches. If you knit, you'll recognize these. If not, I'll explain. The knit stitches (on the left) are what your basic knitted things look like - sweaters, socks, hats, etc. The reverse side of this stitch (or, the inside of those sweaters, socks and hats) probably looks like the drawing on the right. Those are purl stitches. Most of all knitting, even all the really fancy stuff, is done with some combination or variation of these two stitches. You can twist them and overlap them and reverse them and do all sorts of crazy things, which is why knitting is so fun.

But I digress.

Here is one of the drawings from the book. Its called "Fancy Paisley".

Below is my rough pencil-on-paper drawing of the idea. I wanted to make a nice balance of knit and purl stitches, and have it still look like paisley. I'm not sure you could actually knit this (well, someone could - not sure I'm that good), but the fun of doing this with pencil and paper is that I can 'cheat', if you will, and add in stitches, or half stitches, where you normally wouldn't put them if you were really knitting with yarn and needles. I can also change the scale willy nilly, and have some crazy things going on.

After I get enough of the idea down on paper, I scan it into the computer. The one below is how it looks after I've redrawn it with my pen stylus and my Wacom tablet, using Photoshop. Its exactly like drawing it by hand with pen and ink on paper, only I'm using a 'computer pen' and drawing on a tablet, and the 'ink' is digital. So when I say its all hand drawn, it really is hand drawn. Its not some computer program where I push a button and "make knitting". I sit there for hours and hours and hours until my hand gets cramped and my eyes start to blur, drawing and erasing and re-drawing until I get it the way I want it.

THEN. As if that wasn't enough. I re-trace the whole thing to clean it up and make the final copy. The re-tracing goes a little faster, but its still one stitch at a time.

Here are some enlarged little bits of each one so you can get an idea of how the drawing changes from one stage to the next.

These are some other pieces from the book:

"Under the Microscope"

"Slice of Pie"

(The piece before this in the book is of the whole pie.

I know - how weird! but kind of cool, right?)

This one is "Tartan Plaid".

Here's a step-by-step of another one - "Autumn Leaves and Pumpkins"

Again, it starts with a sketch. I did this one on the computer, saving me a step of having to scan a pencil drawing.

I did the leaves like this, separate, so I could repeat them in the drawing. That's where the computer comes in handy. Yes, they're all hand drawn, but I was able to take each one and copy it, then flip it or turn it upside down or something to make an interesting picture.

And here is that interesting picture. It was fun putting this one together. I liked making the 'vine' on the one pumpkin look like a piece of yarn.

And re-drawn and all cleaned up, and with a border.

Each piece has a title on the facing page, like this:

I put blank pages in between the art pages to protect against 'bleed', in case markers or other wet media are used to color with. I already know the paper that CreateSpace uses for their books is not as thick as what you would ideally use for a coloring book, but its OK. What's great about doing the book this way is that its a 'print on demand' book, meaning each one gets printed every time someone orders one. If I had these done at a regular printer, I'd have an inventory of already-printed books piled up in my studio. This way is a much better way to get started!

For every drawing you see in the book, there are others that were left unfinished on the cutting room floor, so to speak. Ideas that were cool, but need a little more work to make "work" as a coloring book page. Lots of super complicated Celtic knot designs, some florals, other weird food ideas, etc. Hopefully they will see the light of day in future books!

But for now, I'm just really happy to have this first book DONE, and actually published. Of course I'm obsessing over everything I think needs improvement for the next one(s), and am worrying over what kind of reviews the book will get (assuming people will actually buy it in the first place, let alone leave a review!). I'm hoping that in the sea of adult coloring books out there now, my little effort will find an audience. It might be a very specific and narrow audience, but I think that there are people with my same love of knitted things that will find it entertaining.

Things are turning to Winter here a bit, finally, with some rain and wind and the heater going. Hope its warm and toasty wherever you are. Don't forget to bundle up when you go online to buy my book! (sorry, had to get one more plug in there).

Black Friday may be next week, but a lot of good sales are already active! Before I continue, with the holiday shopping experience in full swing, here are a few tips I have for you: Compare prices. One store’s “sale” price may be higher than another store’s. The major stores will also price-match each other, ... Read more